Kathmandu, December 24

Though Kathmandu Metropolitan City successfully tested bio-gas plant set up in Teku about two months ago, official launch of the project has been inordinately delayed.

“We are only waiting for an authority figure to launch the project. However, we have yet to fix the date for the project’s official launch,” said KMC’s Environment Division Chief Rabin Man Shrestha.

After years’ continuous effort, Kathmandu Metropolitan City had succeed in generating electricity from waste for the first time in Nepal on October 23. Once the waste-to-energy plant at Teku becomes operational, KMC plans to replicate the project in other municipalities.

“Other municipalities have expressed their interest in the project, so the KMC is thinking of replicating the programme in other municipalities,” added Shrestha.

KMC hopes that the waste-to-energy project will make waste management in Kathmandu Valley easier. It said the project was just a preliminary effort to produce electricity from waste.

Besides generating power, the KMC also plans to produce 96 kg gas, 300 kg bio-organic fertiliser, and 13,500 litres of purified water daily from the garbage collected at the Teku transfer station.

A total of 450 tonnes of garbage is produced in Kathmandu Valley every day.

According to a study of Alternative Energy Promotion Centre, Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City, Bhaktapur Municipality, and Kalimati vegetables market produce 331 tonnes waste every day.